Revised and augmented from Jamaica Plain: Collected Bibliographies, Boston
Landmarks Commission, 1983, as part of its Jamaica Plain Preservation
Survey. This revised edition was produced by Walter H. Marx in 1991. BPL
numbers represent Boston Public Library call numbers.
Maps
The Town of Roxbury by John G. Hales (surveyor, selectman, publisher),
1832; 100 rods=1 inch; shows churches and some industries; also included
in both editions of F. S. Drake, The History of Roxbury, 1878 and 1910.
BPL# Map 81.36.1832
The Town of Roxbury by Charles Whitney, 1843 with revised edition 1849;
with churches pictured on top and bottom and houses indicated but not
named, 24"X 30" - BPL# Map 81.36.1849
Jamaica Plain in West Roxbury from Walling's Map of the County of Norfolk,
1859 on a generously large scale; with all buildings indicated and named
- West Roxbury Historical Society
A plan of Boston's Roxbury by N. Henry Crafts (city engineer), 1867; 500'
= 1"; with major public buildings and named wharves; 36" X 40" - BPL#
Map 81.3.1867
A Map of the Towns of Brookline and West Roxbury (1867) from frontispiece
to The Brookline & West Roxbury Directory for 1868-69; with no buildings
named nor indicated - Jamaica Plain Public Library Branch
Dorchester, Roxbury, and West Roxbury by Boston Suburban Book Company,
1907; 1200' =1"; with very detailed streets - BPL# Map 81.3.1907
View of Boston Highlands, Wards 19-22, by G. H. Bailey & Co., Boston,
1888; with border pictures of churches and factories and showing all buildings
in view with a numbered key of many of them below; 30" X 36" - BPL# Map
81.36.1888
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, Ward 23, City of Boston, by G. H. Bailey
& Co., Boston, 1891; with border pictures of churches, municipal buildings,
residences, and store blocks and showing all buildings in view with a
numbered key of many of the buildings, 24" X 34" - Loring-Greenough House.
Real Estate and Street Atlases
Boston Public Library History Reference Section, Copley Square
Boston Athenaeum
Harvard College Library Map Room, College Yard
Boston Building Department, Boston City Hall
Atlas of West Roxbury by Hopkins, Philadelphia, 1873
Atlas of West Roxbury by Bromley, Philadelphia, 1884, 1890, 1896, 1914,
1924
Boston Board of Street Commissioners, Boston's Streets, Avenues, Courts,
and Places, also in Northeastern University Library Boston, 1912 and later;
later editions are mere listings but the 1912 edition contains history
on the streets and an appendix on the legal bounds of the City of Boston.
Jamaica Plain Preservation Study, ed. C. Kennedy et al., Boston Landmarks
Commission, also in Jamaica Plain Branch Library, 2 Volumes Volume II
gives some house histories by address
Business Directories
An Almanac & Business Directory for the Environs of Boston, by G. Adams,
Boston, 1848, 1849, 1850, with ads and brief descriptions - BPL# 44892.5
The Roxbury Almanac and Directory, by G. Adams, Boston, 1847 through 1866
BPL# F74.R9.A18
The Brookline & West Roxbury Directory, by G. Goodnough, Boston, 1868,
Jamaica Plain Branch Library
The Blue Book of Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury, N. Cambridge,
1895 through 1899; with ads and lists of residents - BPL# 2358.22
The Blue Book of Roxbury and Dorchester, Boston, 1915 - BPL# 2359a.142
The Boston Blue Book or City Directory), Boston, 1876 through 1937 - BPL#
F73.22.B8 or available on film in the Microtext Room on the Boston Public
Library at Copley Square
Newspapers
The Roxbury Advertizer (weekly) April 4, 1846 - December 29, 1848; first
called The Mutual Advertizer BPL# N1169.14
The Roxbury Citizen (weekly) January 4, 1936 - present; now part of The
Jamaica Plain Citizen - available in the BPL Microtext Room, BPL# AN2.M4.R7
The Roxbury Gazette & South End Advertizer (weekly) January 2, 1942 -
available in the BPL Microtext Room, BPL# AN2.M4.R71
Jamaica News (weekly) January 1, 1897 - available in the BPL Microtext
Room, BPL# AN2.M4.J38; The Jamaica Plain Branch Library has the years
1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1903
The Jamaica Plain Press (weekly) November 1939 - available in the BPL
Microtext Room, BPL# AN2.M4.J380
The Jamaica Plain Citizen (weekly) January 1, 1937 - present; bound editions
available for inspection along with The Roxbury Citizen (1942-1963) at
the publisher, Tribune Publications, 1281 Hyde Park Ave., Hyde Park, Massachusetts
and at the BPL Microtext Room, BPL# N2.M4.J35
Town Reports
Roxbury Town Records (1648-1849), reels #217-18 - available in the BPL
Microtext Room, BPL# F73.B7
West Roxbury Town Records (1851-1879), reels #222-25 - available in BPL
Microtext Room, BPL# F73.B7
West Roxbury Town Reports (1851-1874) - yearly paperbound reports in the
possession of the West Roxbury Historical Society at the West Roxbury
Branch Library
Other Documents
Order of Exercises at the Celebration of the Completion of Two Centuries
since the Settlement of Roxbury, October 8, 1830, single sheet - BPL#
XH80.225 No.14
Roxbury Centennial, November 22, 1876; 104 pp. - BPL# F74.R9R9
Mayor's Address to the City Council of Roxbury (yearly, 1848 through 1867)
- incomplete set, BPL# 6341.1
Commissioners on the Subject of the Union of the Cities of Boston, Roxbury,
1867, 20 pp., City Document #3 - BPL# 4455.152
Rufus Choate, Application to Set Off Wards 6-8 of the City of Roxbury
as an Agricultural Town, Boston 1851, the noted Massachusetts lawyer (whose
statue is in the Suffolk County Courthouse in downtown Boston) together
with Jamaica Plain citizen, Arthur W. Austin (for whom Centre St. was
renamed as long as the Town of West Roxbury existed) were spokesmen for
the petitioners to the Massachusetts General Court in a successful attempt
to separate West Roxbury from Roxbury. The document is useful for the
social and political history of the town - available at the Jamaica Plain
Branch Library and at Harvard Widener Library 13187.41.10
Report of the Committee on the Location & Erection of a New Town House,
West Roxbury, 1866, with an appendix by the architects, Ware and Van Brunt;
the suggested location was not the one finally selected - available at
the Jamaica Plain Branch Library and at the Harvard Widener Library #13187.41.23
A. W. Austin, Address at the Dedication of the Town House of West Roxbury,
Boston, 1868; a synopsis of the history of West Roxbury together with
a review of the history of the separation from Roxbury in a very amusing
writing style - available at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library and at the
Harvard Widener Library #13187.41.23
Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Soldier's Monument in West Roxbury,
Boston, 1871, 32 pp.; primarily a record of the event and speeches but
with a fine concluding description of the monument - available at the
Jamaica Plain Branch Library and at Harvard Widener Library #13187.41.25
General Published History
Charles M. Ellis, The History of Roxbury Town, Roxbury, 1847, 146 pp.
- BPL# 2358.84 or B4129.59
Francis S. Drake, A History of Roxbury, Roxbury, 1878 (rep. by the City
of Boston, 1910), chaps. 10-12; the most available source - BPL History
Reference Room (#562.1.34) or BPL#6350a.41 and G293.1.34 and at the Jamaica
Plain Branch Library and at the Harvard Widener Library #US13187.41.15
Roxbury Past & Present, ed. H. J. MacElaney, Boston, 1918, 98 pp. with
plates and maps - BPL #4359.68
Harriet M. Whitcomb, Annals & Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain, Cambridge,
1897; a detailed lecture originally for a local ladies club in Jamaica
Plain by one who on her death in 1941 was one of the oldest residents
in the city - BPL#F74.J3W5 and Widener #13314.5 and Jamaica Plain Branch
Library
C. Kennedy et al., Jamaica Plain Preservation Story, vol. I, Boston Landmarks
Commission, 1983 and Jamaica Plain Branch Library
Historic Sites in the West Roxbury District, City of Boston, 1907 and
Jamaica Plain Branch Library
Jamaica Plain, Boston 200 Neighborhood Histories Project, Boston, 1976,
7 pp. and Jamaica Plain Branch Library
Specific Published Histories
I. Loring-Greenough House
Eva Boyd, "Jamaica Plain by Way of London" in Old Time New England, Society
for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston, and Jamaica Plain
Branch Library
Eva Boyd, A Garden Pageant - The Place Remembers, Portraying Ten Episodes
in the History of the Loring-Greenough House in the Neighborhood, Jamaica
Plain, 1930 (reprint Jamaica Plain Historical Society, 1989) - BPL#F73.68.J3.B6
Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, The History of the Loring-Greenough House,
1956 and at the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Public Library
Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, The Story of the Loring-Greenough House, n.
d. and at the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Public Library
II. The First Church (Unitarian at the Monument)
Rev. Dr. Thomas Gray, A Half-Century Sermon, Boston, 1842, pp. - available
in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library: With a memorandum on town development
and the "Eliot Lands"
F. Seaver, The Founders of the Third Parish of Roxbury in Jamaica Plain
- Who They Were and Where They Lived in 1769, Boston, 1917 with map -
available in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library
A History of the First Church Unitarian, n. d., 3 pp. - available in the
Jamaica Plain Branch Library
III. Central Congregational Church
Ellen L. Ernst, The First Congregational Society of Jamaica Plain 1769-1909,
Boston, 1909 - available in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library
IV. The Footlight Club
100th Performance 1877 - 1906, Cambridge, 1906 - available in the Jamaica
Plain Branch Library
V. The Children's Museum
Adelaide B. Sayles, The Story of the Children's Museum, Boston, 1937 -
available in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library
VI. Fire Department
A.W. Brayley, A Complete History of the Boston Fire Department, Boston,
1889 - available at the Boston Public Library
VII. The Former Adams Nervine Asylum
Annual Reports of the Managers of the Asylum, Boston
Boston Landmarks Commission,
Study Report for the Asylum, Boston
VIII. The Former German Club
History of the Boylston Schulverein, Boston, 1924; with English synopsis
on pg. 28 - available in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library
IX. Jamaica Plain Neighborhood House
Marion C. Balch, A History of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood House Association,
Boston, 1953 - BPL# HV878.B.35
Newspaper Articles
"The Old Home Town", Boston Sunday Post, December 12, 1943 - Jamaica Plain
description with cartoon on full page
"Jamaica Plain - It Has Everything", Boston Post, January 9, 1944 - another
full page description
"The Old Curtis Farm", Boston Globe, September 13, 1970, pg. B-49
Collections
Henry A. May, Scrapbooks with Historical & Biographical Articles of Roxbury,
West Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain (1890 - 1901), vols. 2-19, BPL#H80.217
W. H. Marx, Jamaica Plain Citizen, Jamaica Plain Historical Society, 1989
- present - a series of essays on local history originally printed in
The Jamaica Plain Citizen
Miscellaneous
A List of 99 Ways of Spelling Jamaica Plain, Boston, 1886 - available
in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library
Boston Architect Department, Annual Reports, 1891 through 1894, Boston;
reports for the years when E. M. Wheelwright was City Architect and contains
documentation for municipal buildings erected in Jamaica Plain, including
some schools, the Jamaica Pond Boathouse, and a Precinct House addition
- available in the Harvard College (Fogg Art Museum) Library #FA2635.2
Photographs and Illustrations
The Society
for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
The Boston Athenaeum
Print Room of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square
The Jamaica Plain Branch Library
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) General Planning Documents
B65R General Neighborhood Renewal Plan, BRA, 1962 Jamaica Plain Summary
B65R Jamaica Plain Survey & Planning Application, Survey Jamaica Plain
Renewal Area, n.d.
B65R Jamaica Plain Community Organization, c.1965 Comp 0
B65R J. Boland & R. Cady. Housing Market Study-Jamaica Plain
B65R Jamaica Plain, General Neighborhood Renewal Plan, 1965 G
B65R Draft Jamaica Plain-Parker Hill Planning District, n. d.
B65R Jamaica Plain, Background & History, n. d.
B65R Jamaica Plain Real Estate Analysis 1953-1955, n. d.
S51 Larry Smith & Co., Economic Analysis, Jamaica Plain E GNRP Area, prepared
for BRA, 1964
B65R Code Enforcement Program - Jamaica Plain, 1965
B65R Jamaica Plain, Community Conservation Program - Application for Federal
Grants
J62 Application for Federal Grants under the Provisions of BRA neighborhood
improvement program, community facilities, open space land and urban beautification
and improvement - Jamaica Plain, n. d.
D40.6 Survey of Properties Owned by the City of Boston, BRA BRA Planning
Department, June 1970. Part 6, Jamaica Plain
B65R Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Improvement Program, n. d.
B65R Jamaica Plain Reference File
B65R Jamaica Plain-Mission Hill, Parks Study, Draft, BRA JM February,
1973
B65R Jamaica Plain, Background Information, Planning JP Issues and Preliminary
Neighborhood Improvement Strategies, June, 1975
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) Development Studies & Proposals
B65R Cabot Estate Studies, n. d.
B65R Cabot Estate Open Space Task Force Report, 1971
B65R Cabot Estate - Summary of Alternative Development CaS Schemes, n.d.
R21 Replacement of the Agassiz/Old Agassiz Elementary BRA3 Schools, BRA,
May, 1965
R61 Hughes, John T., Jr. A Police Station for the Consolidation H of Division
13 & Division 17, Boston, MA. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Degree of B. Arch, MIT, Boston, 1960.
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) Transportation
T10 Jamaica Plain Community Council. Impact of the Proposed J Expressway
on Jamaica Plain, January, 1968.
T40 Tippets-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton. Roxbury-Jamaica Plain T499R (Boston),
MA. Areawide Topics Plain, No. 40. Prepared for the Mass. DPW in cooperation
with the US/DOT, FHA. Chestnut Hill, MA. Sept. 1972.
D40 Boston's Southwest Corridor Development Potential; B65R analysis and
projection of the social & economic B impact, August, 1974.
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) Miscellaneous Documents
B65G.B Boston Globe. Boston's Neighborhoods. n.d.
C436 Centre St., An Exhibit & Fair by the Boston Children's C Museum,
1975
R37 Jamaica Plain Community Council Youth Committee. J How does Jamaica
Plain provide for its youth? A survey of youth programs in Jamaica Plain.
Boston, 1967